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Thursday 28 december 2017

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You Can Help Keeping Aruba Happy:
‘It is Not about Being Bad, but

About Making Bad Choices

and Take that Second Chance’

foundation and one of the four that work with
the clients. “Then we have breakfast and start
our job. All have a job description and respon-
sibility.” Vanessa Maduro, administrator and
social helper, continues: “At noon we eat to-
gether, they sleep and at 3.30 pm there is a
Bible study. This is the program from Mondays
to Fridays, Saturdays they will visit their family. It
is obligatory that the family picks them up and leader now as he helps new clients and his
brings them back. If we are in doubt, we do persistence makes the others stronger. “I want
tests when they come back to see if they are to help, God sent me here.”
clean. If not, they start all over again, but with
double weight.” That means that the 2-months Blissful Bonding
ORANJESTAD - When entering the 15,000 of detox will be 4 months now. The detox pe- Monica and Gino started with the Foundation
square meter premises of Eliezer Foundation riod is without any contact with society, no Eliezer in the Netherlands, but Gino felt the
you feel you are visiting a Garden of Eden. The phone, no visits, nothing. “Before you start this need here in Aruba and thus they started in
entrance is leading you to a farm with beauti- program, we will give you a week to prepare the streets of the island. “We had nothing but
ful nature around it. There are animals, crops, yourself. That determines if you are really dedi- God’s believe and we approached the ad-
green houses and a park. Four dedicated cated. You need to choose for this completely, dicts, this was 2008/2009. Than we got to know
people, a handful, are working daily to help 15 otherwise it will not work”, Vanessa proceeds. an alcohol addict that offered us a big house
men that lost their way during the walk in life. because he loved what we did. Step by step
They are addicts to alcohol and/or drugs and All Over Again the clients trusted us and more searched for
live here to get detoxed and rehabilitated. The Client Anthony Arends has been 4 months us. One led to another and God always guid-
motivation behind this foundation is the stron- here now, he was addicted to drugs and al- ed us. This location was a blessing. The Dutch
gest there can be: owner Gino Frans used to cohol. “I was fed up with my life, I needed a owner Fred Wappenaar believes in us and of-
be an addict himself until God called him and change and if you have the will you can do it. fered us this terrain, we are unbelievably grate-
took him out of that life. “The Lord freed him but It was hard in the beginning, but you get bet- ful. The connection with animals, a watermill,
also gave him a call to help others. That is how ter along the way.” He feels home here, the to be self-supportive, to teach the clientsto
it all started”, says Monica Frans, Gino’s wife. program brings him a new start and being use- cultivate and grow and care… it is all part of
ful. “It is like a baby that learns crawling be- our vision. We are her since 6 years now and
The clients start their day at 05.30 am with a fore walking, you have to do it all over again. I next to Foundation Eliezer we founded the La
prayer. “We take a section from the Bible that love to take care of the horses and donkeys, a Posada Care Farm.” The foundation does not
makes us begin the day committed and posi- horse of my own is my goal and maybe even let go easily, after the average of 6 months
tive”, explains Robert Zara, secretary of the my own ranch. I see a future.” Anthony is a that clients stay they keep in touch and help

them reintegrate into society. Monica: “But in the future we would like
to hire them ourselves as employees of our hydroponics business. It is not
easy to get hired by a company when you have a past like this, here at
least we do not see that as a disadvantage. We believe in change.”
The foundation cooperates with the Movimiento Misionero Mundial. The
ambition and drive of this foundation is heart-warming and one can only
wish that there were more people like them to help those who do not
see an outcome anymore. To fulfill their plans Monica and Gino wel-
come any help. Donations, construction materials, furniture, anything
that is needed. You are most welcome to visit the Care Farm, and get a
tour. Robert: “First we need to build a new house for the clients with each
their own room. They need that to learn being on their own and take
care of their stuff. When you visit us here, you will feel the need. Every
family has a member that is addicted.”q

If you would like to visit the foundation, please call +297 561 3792 and ask for Gino or Monica Frans. You can also call +297 592 9424 and ask for
Robert Zara or +297 748 9185 Vanessa Maduro. If you would like to donate, please do so at bank account Arubabank 20 66 34 01 90. For more
information visit the website: https://eliezer-fundacion.jimdo.com or Facebook: Eliezer Fundacion.